Lauren A. Taylor

Lauren has spent her career working closely with high-net-worth individuals and business owners to structure their estate plans and business holdings in a tax and administratively efficient manner. She designs and implements sophisticated wealth transfer strategies to maximize the protection of her clients’ wealth for generations.  Lauren’s wealth preservation practice includes minimizing federal income, estate, gift, and generation-skipping transfer taxes, business succession planning, charitable planning, private foundations and tax-exempt organizations, and prenuptial and postnuptial agreements. Lauren represents personal representatives, trustees, and beneficiaries in estate and trust administration and litigation, estate and gift tax return preparation, irrevocable trust modification and termination, and post-mortem estate planning.

Lauren values the personal nature of her practice and enjoys building meaningful and lasting relationships. She focuses on delivering a high level of personalized service and is grateful to serve as a trusted advisor to many recurring long-term clients. Lauren invests her time to gain an in-depth understanding of her clients’ businesses short-term objectives, and future goals. Alongside each client’s network of advisors, Lauren leverages her comprehensive knowledge of the law and innate interpersonal skills to maintain a collaborative environment while working through sensitive family dynamics and complex legal issues.

EXPERIENCE

As a Partner of Johnson Pope Bokor Ruppel & Burns, LLP, Lauren is in the firm’s Tax and Trusts & Estates practice groups. 

Lauren focuses her practice on tax and estate planning, trust and estate administration, and related corporate and real estate matters. Lauren’s clients include high-net-worth individuals and families, business owners and closely held businesses, charitable organizations, personal representatives, and trustees.

Lauren’s practice includes domestic and international estate planning, wealth preservation and business succession planning, federal income, estate, gift, and generation-skipping transfer taxation, private foundations and other tax-exempt organizations, and premarital and post-marital agreements. Lauren represents U.S Citizens and non-U.S. Citizens residing and/or owning property in the United States and internationally.

Lauren represents individual and corporate fiduciaries, personal representatives, trustees, and beneficiaries in probate and trust administration, fiduciary litigation, will and trust contests, and estate tax audits and controversy matters. Her practice includes judicial and nonjudicial modification and termination of irrevocable trusts, homestead issues, post-mortem estate planning, and preparation of federal estate, gift, and fiduciary income tax returns.

Lauren’s extensive experience includes revocable and irrevocable trusts, sales to grantor trusts, spousal lifetime access trusts (SLATs), life insurance trusts (ILITs), grantor retained annuity trusts (GRATs), qualified personal residence trusts (QPRTs), multi-generational dynasty trusts, and trusts for minors.

Lauren advises on the formation, structuring, and operations of family limited partnerships, limited liability companies, and closely held corporations, as well as their shareholder, partnership, and operating agreements, bylaws, and buy-sell agreements. She has experience with subchapter S elections and S corporations, qualified subchapter S trusts (QSSTs), and electing small business trusts (ESBTS).

Lauren has been recognized for her professional accomplishments by several peer-reviewed publications, including by The Best Lawyers in America® in Trusts & Estates Law, Closely Held Companies and Family Business Law, Tax Law, and Trust & Estate Litigation.  She frequently publishes articles and presents on trust and estates related topics and has been cited in the Trust & Estates Florida Bar treatises, Practice Under the Florida Probate Code, and Litigation Under the Florida Probate Code. She is also a member of the Florida Fellows Institute of the American College of Trusts and Estates Counsel (ACTEC).

Before private practice, Lauren began her legal career with a federal clerkship with the Honorable Elizabeth A. Jenkins in the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida. Lauren earned her finance and law degrees from the University of Florida, where she was a member of Florida Blue Key and the Florida Law Review.

Lauren serves on the Board of After-School All-Stars, which partners with schools to provide free after-school and summer programs for underserved children in Tampa Bay.

REPRESENTATIVE EXPERIENCE

DISTINCTIONS & PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATIONS

• The Best Lawyers in America®, since 2023, Trusts & Estates, Trusts & Estates – Litigation, Tax Law, and Closely Held Companies and Family Business Law
• Super Lawyers Rising Star, since 2019, Estate Planning & Probate
• American College of Trusts and Estates Counsel (ACTEC) Florida Fellows Institute, Class V Graduate, 2021-2022
• Tampa Connection, Class of 2017
• The Florida Bar
  • Member, Real Property, Probate, and Trust Law Section
  • Member, Tax Section
• Hillsborough County Bar Association
  • Co-Chair, Real Property, Probate, and Trust Law Section, 2022-present

ADMISSIONS

• The Florida Bar
• U.S. District Court, Middle District of Florida
• U.S. Court of Appeals, Eleventh Circuit
• U.S. Tax Court

EDUCATION

• University of Florida, Levin College of Law, J.D.
  • Florida Law Review
  • Book Awards for Highest Grade in Income Tax of Estates & Trusts and Legal Drafting
• University of Florida, Warrington College of Business Administration, B.S.B.A., Finance
  • Warrington Finance Scholar
  • Florida Blue Key